Of snatch thieves and the theft of truth

A flurry of snatch theft reports has hit the mainstream media of late, and this is apparently due to a surge in such crimes. Such coverage serves the purpose of alerting Malaysians to a social problem especially when these crimes turn uglier and fatal, as they have in recent days.

In his article headlined “Snatch thefts, the media and tourism” today, writer Wong Sulong of The Star was spot on when he argued that, given the gravity of such crimes, it was vital for the local media to report these cases despite concerns by Tourism Ministry officials who are apparently worried that such exposure would hurt the tourism industry. Besides, it would be terrible for our international reputation if the Malaysian authorities and the media tried to conceal the ugly truth from tourists simply because the country wants their money.

Indeed, the government and the media can’t and shouldn’t take tourists – and for that matter, Malaysians as well - for a ride. Yes, there are things in life that should not be viewed purely in terms of dollar and cents.

In his piece, Wong was also right in saying that the media had the responsibility to report truthfully the SARS crisis early last year when it hit Asia including Malaysia. Here he credited Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the then deputy Prime Minister and Home Affairs Minister, for having advised the media “to report the facts and not the rumours”.

Wong also gave another example in which he claimed the government and the media were transparent: the case of the bird flu epidemic that hit the region recently.

So far, so good. But this was as far as he got. Wong was selective in his examples as he conveniently left out the widespread concern over the haze or smog. It appeared back then that the mainstream media were discouraged by the government from providing extensive coverage of this environmental threat that shrouded our land. The coverage was, at best, hazy!

The same argument – of hurting the tourism industry – was bandied about by the same government in the case of the haze coverage, but no one in the media publicly complained about this ‘ban’ on reporting. Maybe, whenever there is a smog, as the Platters crooned, “Smoke gets into your eyes” and our editors and journalists are unable to report what they see … or rather don’t see…

We can only conclude from this and other similar episodes that the media will only go as far as the government allows them to report.

In other words, the mainstream media don’t strike out on their own, but wait patiently for that coveted cue from political leaders. That is why, for instance, there was precious little media coverage of the recent Anwar appeal at the Federal Court even though his trials had put Malaysia under the international spotlight and had far-reaching implications for judicial independence. There is also very little coverage of issues such as ethnic polarisation, widening income inequalities, exploitation of migrant workers, and alarming poverty levels among the Orang Asli.

Wong would do justice to himself and his fellow Malaysians if he practises what he eloquently preached in his column: “The right way to tackle a problem is to clinically diagnose the cause and prescribe the solution or solutions.” Unless Malaysians, especially the mainstream media and the political leaders, are willing to acknowledge the existence of particular problems, these problems will stay and worsen by the day.